Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16.
The light of truth must shine forth to the world. Those who love God and keep His commandments are called to aggressive warfare, not against one another, but against the armies of the invisible foe. There is to be no such thing as laying off the armor. At no time are those who claim to be Christ’s disciples to feel at ease in their church capacity, content to do nothing to rescue fallen human beings, and bring them back to their loyalty.
Heavenly angels are constantly ascending and descending between heaven and earth, engaged in unselfish service for the building up of the kingdom of Christ. Where are the men and women who will unite with these heavenly messengers? Where are those who will use their abilities in cooperation with divine power?
Think of what God has done for you. When you were perishing out of Christ, did not the warning message come to you, convincing you of sin and arousing you to repentance? Did not Christ reveal Himself to you as a sin-pardoning Saviour? And in the light and glory of your first love, were you not full of unselfish love to impart to others the grace which gave you newness of life in Christ?
Do not allow your zeal for Christ to decrease. Now that you have become the helping hand of Christ, you are to work earnestly for those whom, before your conversion, you looked upon with indifference. Remember that they are in as favorable a condition as you were … [when you were] brought to repentance, and that their salvation may be of higher value to the church than yours was. Grudge not earnest, tender words and kindly deeds. Draw those around you to the cross of Calvary. Be so greatly in love with the truth that you will daily receive fresh grace to impart. Open the windows of the soul heavenward, that the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness may shine into your hearts. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Truth, precious, essential truth, will open before all who will keep their souls in the love of God. Duty and sacrifice will be precious to them, because of their love for the purchase of the blood of Christ. Human beings upon whom they would once scarcely look now assume a preciousness in their eyes. Once they had no interest in them; now they are united with Christ, and they are bound up in love with His heritage. The heart once frozen by icy selfishness is now melted by the influence of the Spirit.—Manuscript 17, February 26, 1901, “Neglected Duties.”
The Upward Look p. 71
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for me. I am waiting to see a doctor for blood in urine. Andy
—-Yesterday my dear precious mother died in my arms. My heart is BROKEN AND I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!!! And I found out just before she died that the doctor . . . was giving her MASSIVE DOSES OF FENTANYL AND PROPANOL which was totally AGAINST everything I had said she wanted to be done for her! Connie
—-My friend Lucie has breast cancer she just found out yesterday please wrap her in healing prayers in the name of Jesus. JoAnn
—Please pray for friends whose business was vandalized. Rose
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Dear Friends,
My grandfather was very restless after he retired. He had worked hard for over fifty years, so not having anything to do weighed heavily upon him. They lived in Florida for only a little over a year, before he decided that he liked Michigan better. Again they moved all of their stuff, including all of those unopened barrels of worthless items. Their savings were being used up in moving expenses, but he didn’t care. He missed the state he had lived in for so long.
After only a couple of winters, Florida began to look good to my grandfather again. My grandmother’s arthritis had been better in the warmer climate, so they decided to try a bigger city in that southern state. Again all of their furniture including all of those still-unopened barrels of worthless string, aluminum foil, buttons, etc., were loaded onto a professional moving van and taken to Orlando, Florida. Again they took the long, tiring train ride. Storing their stuff until they could find an affordable place to live was an additional expense. Their savings were nearly gone. They barely had enough to eat and both of them lost a lot of weight. Of course, they told no one about this. My grandmother’s letters were chatty—full of the weather, about not minding having a lizard living with them to catch the many bugs that were everywhere, shining a flashlight in the grass and seeing millions of eyes staring back at her from the all bugs that made their lawn their home, and so forth.
When my grandmother died in 1962, my it was obvious that my grandfather wanted to come back to Michigan. My mother made the long train trip to get him as he was very old and frail and unable to stay by himself. She had only a few days to decide what to do with all of their belongings. She had no money to move them back up to Michigan and no time to sell all of my grandparents’ antique furniture, so she had to give it all away. All of those still-unopened barrels of worthless stuff that my grandmother had insisted on keeping were thrown away.
How often we are like my grandmother, holding on to favorite sins and pleasures that will only cause us trouble in the end. We feel like we cannot let go of them and hold on tightly to them. The Holy Spirit impresses us that we should give up our “darling sins,” but we say, “Not yet. Wait awhile and I will do it.” Years go by and we find ourselves still holding onto those same sins, those forbidden pleasures that troubled us from our youth. We find that those old habits hold us so tightly that we cannot get free even if we wanted to. Solomon tells us, “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” Prov 5:21-23
With tears in His voice, our Great Redeemer pleads, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Eze 33:11 “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.” Mal 3:7 “I gave My life for you. My precious blood I shed, that I might ransom you from those sins that you have been holding onto for years.” “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jer 31:3 “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Ps 50:15
John assures us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 Our Dear Saviour assures us, “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.” Isa 44:22 Precious Saviour! He will rid us of all of our “excess baggage” of sin we have been holding onto for so long. We can give it all to Him! We can be free from the cords of sin that bind us!
Let us come to Him now laying all of our sins at the foot of His cross. Let us there find the freedom from the weight of guilt that we have been carrying for so long. Let us in faith receive freely of the grace that our Loving Saviour longs to give us is my prayer.
Rose